Games are often frivolous distractions from the real world, but a group of students from the Netherlands want to use the medium to learn more about horrifying events in Syria.

Refugen is a new PC game that puts players in the role of a 13-year-old refugee boy named Sayyid who must survive the horrors of an Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) occupation. The developers call it a survival game, and you must decide how to react to events to either save your own life or to save your humanity. ISIS is a group of militant Islamists that have taken over control of certain areas in Syria and Iraq. Refugen does not have a release date or price at this time, but you can download a test version for free.

This is the latest example of games trying to tackle serious subjects, and the developers have made it clear that their intention is to educate and get people thinking. Refugen joins other politically minded games like Endgame: Syria, Sweatshop, and Papers, Please. These are smaller releases from developers who want to elevate the subject material covered in gaming.

As Sayyid, you must go about your daily life as the ISIS occupation rages around you. Violence will break out frequently, and it’s up to the player how to respond to it. You can either choose to keep your head down, stay quiet, and let the militant forces hurt or kill people you know, or you can choose to intervene. To fight back, you — as the player — must actually scream into your PC’s microphone. Doing so emboldens Sayyid to take action and enables him to fire a weapon.

But everything comes at a cost. Fighting eats away at Sayyid’s soul, and hiding causes trauma as he watches his peers die.

Despite the dark material, the developers said they want to make parts of the experience fun. I asked them to explain why.

“Using gaming as a platform to create awareness is possible and effective, we believe, but the game needs to be ‘fun,'” one of the student developers told me via email. The creators wish to remain anonymous. “The ‘fun’ part in this game is that the player cannot shoot if they don’t scream into the microphone. Screaming in real-life to shoot in the game makes the experience deeper, because you are actively involved in the game with your voice. You’ll feel more for your character when it reacts on your voice.”

Check out an early look at the game in action below:

The United Nations has said that ISIS is responsible for war crimes. Last year, human-rights group Amnesty International released a report that found ISIS is responsible for ethnic cleansing on a “historic scale” in Northern Iraq. And it’s that experience that the students want to get across.

“We’ve seen child soldiers fighting on the front line, used as couriers, spies or guards,” the developers said. “Child soldiers as human shields, suicide bombers. Child soldiers can be anything except for a child. That is why you cannot shoot all the time or escape all the time. You’ll get either traumatized by events or get blinded by anger. In both cases you’ll have a hard time as a child refugee in Refugen.”

The students explained that they fear for their safety, as some people may find the material offensive; this is why they asked to remain anonymous. They pointed to the terror attack against the editors of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in France, but they also want people to focus on the message and not on the authors.

“Because of the recent terror attacks on freedom of speech [in Paris], we’ve decided to bring this game out anonymously,” the developer said. “The most important thing in this choice was that we didn’t want to put ourselves on the foreground but rather the message that this game carries. Which is creating awareness for inequity and excessive violence in ISIS-occupied areas by using games as a platform.”

]]>0ISIS and gaming: 5 students want to teach about surviving under the militants’ heelForget Target: Apple is still the biggest company censoring gameshttp://venturebeat.com/2014/12/11/forget-target-apple-is-still-the-biggest-company-censoring-games/
http://venturebeat.com/2014/12/11/forget-target-apple-is-still-the-biggest-company-censoring-games/#commentsThu, 11 Dec 2014 20:30:00 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=1623506Apple continues to treat games like throwaway toys that don't matter.
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Apple does not restrict the music or books that you can buy through its digital stores. But for games and apps must live up to a different standard.

Developer Lucas Pope revealed today that he will release his mundane political game Papers, Please for iPad for $6 on Dec. 12. The port of this PC release has players controlling a border agent guarding an entrance to the fictitious nation of Arstotzka. The crux of the gameplay is all about deciding who you will let in and who you will refuse. If that sounds uncomfortable, that’s because it’s supposed to. But Apple is not OK with uncomfortable games, and it forced Pope to change Papers, Please to get approval for release on iOS.

Papers, Please gives players a number of tools to help them decide if a person is a threat to Arstotzka or not, and one of those is a body scanner that shows the immigrants and travelers fully nude. The idea of this is not to sneak a peek at the person’s goodies but to make the player realize just how easily they can denigrate and humiliate people in the name of security.

But Apple doesn’t care.

The iPad version has no full nudity option for the search scanner photos. Apple rejected that build for containing "pornographic content."

As you can see in the above tweet from Pope, he had to change his game because Apple considered the nudity “pornographic content.”

This is actually a part of Apple’s stated policy that it will not stand for serious games that have something important to say.

“We view apps different than books or songs, which we do not curate,” reads Apple’s guidelines for app developers. “If you want to criticize a religion, write a book. If you want to describe sex, write a book or a song or create a medical app. It can get complicated, but we have decided to not allow certain kinds of content in the App Store.”

Apple is clearly dismissive of the potential for games to affect change in people, and the company is explicitly saying that it knows what kind of expression its customers should get exposed to.

This is similar to the recent issues in Australia, where retailers Target and K-mart pulled violent, open-world action game Grand Theft Auto V off of their shelves after receiving petitions from concerned customers.The idea of a private company willingly censoring a game caused many fans to grow concerned about censorship. While countries like Germany, India, and United Arab Emirates enact laws and censor games on a governmental level, it is perhaps more difficult to get enraged about that since it comes across as the will of the people. Or, at the very least, it is up to the people to get their governments to stop censoring media.

When Target blocks a game, however, people tend to view it as a corporation saying that it knows better than its customers. But Target and K-mart have nothing on Apple.

In January 2013, Apple blocked Endgame: Syria, which explores the civil war in that country. Developer Tomas Rawlings was only able to release the game on iOS once he changed the name and removed all references to real political events. On Android, Rawlings released Endgame: Syria without any changes or compromises.

In March 2013, Apple pulled the game Sweatshop from the App Store. It explored the harsh conditions and impossible tasks that many people working in manufacturing in developing nations have to deal with every day. That was too political for Apple.

I recently spoke with a developer who was building a mobile game about cultivating a harvest of marijuana plants. The app is due out on Android without changes, but the studio was in the process of changing it from pot to junk food to get around Apple’s tough policies.

Apple owns one of the largest distribution platform for games in the world, and it is making billions from revenue-sharing with developers. But the company still wants to treat the medium like toys, and it has no problem censoring strong and smart games like Papers, Please while the company admits it would never do that to a book.

We asked Apple to comment on this story, and we’re awaiting its response.

Meanwhile, Pope explained that he was OK with making the changes to get the game out and earning some revenue on iOS. But he also may appeal Apple’s decision.

@adamctierney I think it has a chance on appeal; may try for later. I expect it'll take some time though & didn't want to hold up release.

The makers of a masturbation app learned the hard way how differently Apple treats game developers compared to authors and musicians.

HappyPlayTime will not end up on iPhone or iPad because of its sexual nature. This is a game that teaches women about the joys of masturbation. It wants to remove the shame and stigma from the act, and it attempts to do so by have players swipe and pat a character called Happy that looks like a vagina. Apple wants nothing to do with this, according to HappyPlayTime developer Tina Gong (via Kotaku).

The iPhone company’s app reviewer told Gong that “the concept was not something that Apple wants to go forward with.”

“I knew I was taking a chance with building the game natively, but I was optimistic, as our app was created with a mission and with the best of intentions,” Gong wrote in a blog post. “The [Apple] reviewer herself sounded sympathetic, but it seemed like it wasn’t something she could control. A few minutes after the call, I got the rejection email in my inbox.”

This isn’t the first time that Apple has prohibited a game from its App Store.

“We view apps differently than books or songs, which we do not curate,” reads a section of Apple’s guidelines for game developers. “If you want to criticize a religion, write a book. If you want to describe sex, write a book or a song or create a medical app. It can get complicated, but we have decided to not allow certain kinds of content in the App Store.”

That’s a clear double-standard.

Of course, it’s not like HappyPlayTime would find a home on game consoles either. Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo all have policies against permitting games that earn the “adult only” rating from the Entertainment Software Ratings Board. But unlike Apple, these gaming companies don’t have a policy of prohibiting games while letting any book or song into its stores.

Gong said that she considered starting a petition but that she decided that is a waste of time since Apple typically doesn’t reverse decisions like this.

She will instead move forward and build the game on HTML5 and Javascript, which will enable it to work on any phone through a browser. She will also take that version and release it as an app for Android.

“If they [Google] don’t reject us, too, that it,” she wrote.

]]>0Touchy subject: Apple prohibits masturbation game from App StoreDeveloper of Apple-banned Endgame: Syria takes on the Drug War in NarcoGuerrahttp://venturebeat.com/2013/05/24/gamethenews-explores-the-never-ending-war-on-drugs-in-narcoguerra/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/05/24/gamethenews-explores-the-never-ending-war-on-drugs-in-narcoguerra/#commentsFri, 24 May 2013 17:19:28 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=744310Endgame: Syria developer wants to teach players about the War on Drugs in NarcoGuerra.
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The global War on Drugs is the four-decade-long policy of many Western governments, including the U.S. and Mexico, to stamp out the supply of narcotics. Now, developer Auroch Digital from GameTheNews.net is exploring the conflict with a new title for iOS, Android, PC, and Mac.

NarcoGuerra is a strategy title that puts players in the role of the Mexican government. Using mechanics similar to the board game Risk, you must try to find and destroy drug cartels in a never-ending battle.

“We’ve built a simulation based on our research about the reality of the War on Drugs,” NarcoGuerra lead designer Tomas Rawlings told GamesBeat. “[The game shows] how corruption and street price ebb and flow with police actions. It’s up to the player from there [to decide] what they get out of the game, but most gamers I come across are smart people. I think they’ll figure out that to win this war to have to understand it’s not a war in any conventional sense at all.”

Rawlings previously produced strategy title Endgame: Syria that used game mechanics to explore that nation’s civil war. Endgame: Syria drew some criticism for using real-life current events in a game, and Apple blocked its release on the iOS App Store. The studio was able to get it back on the App Store after removing the references to real places and governments. Rawlings feels that this is an unfair double standard.

“In reflecting the world around us a singer might write a song, a filmmaker produces a documentary, and a journalist writes an article. As games developers we express our interests via games,” said Rawlings. “Just because our form of expression is through games, this doesn’t mean we take the subject any less seriously. This game aims to engage players in the issue and get them to think about why this war is still going on despite the billions [of dollars] spent on it.”

NarcoGuerra costs 99 cents. It is the first time GameTheNews is charging for one of its titles, and that’s because the group feels it is a premium experience.

“The game is the biggest ‘newsgame’ we’ve created, which has taken a lot of time, effort, and expense,” said Rawlings. “All news organizations have to make income to pay staff — we’re no different in that respect.”

This isn’t the first time video games have looked at the War on Drugs, but Rawlings feels it’s the first time an interactive title is investigating it with any nuance.

“Games have covered this area a lot but never in a deeper sense that just good versus bad,” he said. “For example, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has the Favela level, but we don’t ask why is this fighting going us — we just point and shoot. We wanted to delve a bit deeper into the why and a strategy game makes a great frame to do this.”

In fact, just in making this game, Rawlings said he learned many things about the Drug War that he wasn’t previously aware of.

“I assumed the solution was going to be in tackling consumption and not production and trafficking,” the designer told us. “But it turns out that consumption per person hasn’t really changed that much. I also learned how violent and damaging this situation is for so many people. Albert Einstein said insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Rawlings believes that by experiencing the decision making themselves, gamers might get a better understanding that the War on Drugs requires a fresh infusion of ideas.

]]>0Developer of Apple-banned Endgame: Syria takes on the Drug War in NarcoGuerraEndgame: Syria back on iOS App Store: Has new name, no real placeshttp://venturebeat.com/2013/03/21/endgame-syria-back-on-ios-app-store-with-new-name-and-no-references-to-real-places/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/21/endgame-syria-back-on-ios-app-store-with-new-name-and-no-references-to-real-places/#commentsThu, 21 Mar 2013 18:32:54 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=703549The political game is now known as Endgame: Eurasia on Apple's platform.
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In January, GamesBeat reported that Apple blocked a game called Endgame: Syria from its iOS App Store. That strategy title explores the nation’s civil war and aims to inform gamers about the many possible outcomes of the conflict. Apple refused the game based on the sensitive nature of the content.

Today, developer Tomas Rawlings, who produced the game as part of his Game The News series, revealed that the title is finally available on the App Store under a new name. Rawlings changed the game to Endgame: Eurasia and wiped all other references to Syria and its war.

We reached out to Rawlings to see how he feels about ripping out the overt political statement of his game.

“[I’m] very disappointed,” Rawlings told GamesBeat. “It’s a long, drawn-out process that costs time and money to go though, [Apple’s process] is a major hindrance to our art as game creators.”

Meanwhile, Android and PC users can still get the original version of Endgame: Syria.

Apple hasn’t lightened up on its stance against games that tackle important subjects. Earlier today, the technology giant removed a game called Sweatshop HD from the App Store.

“I heard about Sweatshop, [that’s] a real shame,” said Rawlings. “It’s a good game that makes a really important point, and it should be available to gamers to judge for themselves.”

]]>0Endgame: Syria back on iOS App Store: Has new name, no real placesApple: ‘Want to criticize religion? Write a book’ — don’t make a gamehttp://venturebeat.com/2013/01/15/apple-want-to-criticize-religion-write-a-book-dont-make-a-game/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/01/15/apple-want-to-criticize-religion-write-a-book-dont-make-a-game/#commentsTue, 15 Jan 2013 16:40:56 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=604252Apple doesn't believe games are capable of social criticism. What do developers have to say about that?
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Apple doesn’t believe video games can tackle important subjects.

At least, that’s how the submission guidelines for developers on the App Store make it sound. If you haven’t read the document before, it’s actually very interesting. The whole thing comes across in very conversational language, not the typical lawyer-speak that often permeates these kinds of policy statements, which is why many people believe that Steve Jobs dictated it himself.

One section of the guidelines resonated with me as a gamer:

We view apps different than books or songs, which we do not curate. If you want to criticize a religion, write a book. If you want to describe sex, write a book or a song, or create a medical app. It can get complicated, but we have decided to not allow certain kinds of content in the App Store.

Apple isn’t the only company that “views apps differently than books or songs,” but it is still strange for a company to state it so bluntly. Apparently, Apple doesn’t think games are capable of the same kind of social criticism as books and songs — but why?

“I think [Apple has] the wrong attitude about games, but ultimately [this] is game developers’ fault, not Apple’s,” Braid developer Jonathan Blow told GamesBeat. “Apple is treating games as shallow commercial entertainment experiences because they have been taught by game developers that that is what games are.”

Blow suggests that Apple doesn’t think games are capable of adding to public discourse on important social issues because most developers don’t even think games can do that.

“If we had built a world where games routinely work with serious issues in ways that people care about, Apple would not be able to take this stance because it would not make any sense,” said Blow.

It’s unfortunate because Apple has now established a self-fulfilling prophecy. Games don’t criticize religion, war, and politics very well, so Apple bans games that try to do that. But that means games that do criticize these topics in a thoughtful way will never reach a wide enough audience to prove it to Apple.

Developer Auroch Digital developed a strategy game based on the real civil war in the Middle-Eastern nation, but Apple rejected its submission to the App Store.

Auroch built the title in two weeks to help people understand the many possible outcomes of the conflict. Gamers can use a medium they’re familiar with to explore and learn about a serious topic online and on the Google Play market.

“I feel that the form of media should be irrelevant, and it’s the content that counts,” Endgame: Syria lead designer Tomas Rawlings told GamesBeat. “Games, films, apps, comics, music, and books should all be held to the same standard. To suggest that there is an invisible line that says it’s OK to say something in a book but not in a game? That feels wrong to me.”

Apple rejected the game based on a portion of its guidelines that prohibits games that “solely target a specific race, culture, a real government or corporation, or any other real entity.”

But this is Apple’s party

“I’m not at all surprised by Apple’s policy, and I just take it for what it is,” Writer Rumble developer Gian Cruz told GamesBeat. “There are obviously multiple shades of gray when it comes to what’s appropriate and what’s not, but at the end of the day, it’s their storefront, and they are the ones who are allowed to make that call. I do not have an absolute right to be in the App Store just because I have something to say in my game or app. There are still other avenues and storefronts I could pursue to express my ideas.”

Game designer Edmund McMillen, who released The Binding of Isaac based on the biblical story of the same name, agrees with Cruz.

“I think [Apple] just chose a really horrible way to say that they don’t want to publish apps that will upset people,” McMillen told GamesBeat. “The way it is written is obviously bad and upsetting in many ways because on a surface level, most will view them as saying a video game can’t express what a song or book can and [that they] shouldn’t. But I really just think it’s a misguided way of saying [not to] submit games that are controversial and might upset people.”

That’s true. Apple’s guidelines basically say the same thing:

We will reject apps for any content or behavior that we believe is over the line. What line, you ask? Well, as a Supreme Court Justice once said, “I’ll know it when I see it.” And we think that you will also know it when you cross it.

But that doesn’t nullify the double standard. Apple doesn’t care if a book or song on its platform is controversial or upsets people. In fact, if Apple believes that books are better at criticizing religion, then wouldn’t they also be more capable of offending users of Apple products?

Maybe the truth is that Apple knows that people associate products from the App Store with Apple more than they associate a book or a song they purchase using their iPad.

We requested a comment from Apple, but it did not respond.

Regardless of any impediments, it’s still up to developers to leverage their medium to do something important if they so choose. Apple thinks gaming is so trivial and incompetent that it has no issues with treating games like a second-class form of art.

“Apple may be badgered enough to change their policy someday, or they may not,” said Blow. “But that doesn’t matter very much because really it is just a reflection of the general cultural idea we have about what games are. The only way that idea will change is if a lot of developers make a lot of serious, deep, honest, touching, and intrepid games for a long time. I don’t know if that will ever happen. How many games can you think of to which you can seriously apply these adjectives? Certainly to none of the top-selling games on the App Store, and certainly to none of those big free-to-play games that are raking in all the cash.”

Many of those games are more than fine. They have their place, but something like Endgame: Syria has the potential to influence the way people view a real-world conflict.

Most of us believe that. Let’s hope that someday games can convince Apple as well.

]]>0Apple: ‘Want to criticize religion? Write a book’ — don’t make a gameApple rejects game that explores the ongoing Syrian civil warhttp://venturebeat.com/2013/01/07/apple-rejects-game-that-explores-the-ongoing-syrian-civil-war/
http://venturebeat.com/2013/01/07/apple-rejects-game-that-explores-the-ongoing-syrian-civil-war/#commentsMon, 07 Jan 2013 18:48:03 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=600053Endgame: Syria is a strategy game based on the real war in that country.
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Video games can’t explore an ongoing, real war — at least on an Apple device.

The consumer-electronics giant rejected Endgame: Syria, a game based on the conflict in that Middle Eastern country. Apple denied the game based on its App Store policy which forbids products from “solely target a specific race, culture, a real government or corporation, or any other real entity.” The Syrian conflict is a civil war involving armed rebels fighting against the Syrian government.

“This decision is a shame, really, as it makes it hard to talk about the real world,” said Endgame: Syria designer Tomas Rawlings. “We had hoped that Apple would be more nuanced in how they applied this rule, but we got a bit worried when it had been in submission for around two weeks without a decision – we then figured that because of the controversy of using the gaming medium to cover an ongoing war meant passing the game had become an issue for them.”

Endgame: Syria is a light strategy game that explores how the numerous potential outcomes of Syrian civil war will affect the many interested parties. It’s part of GameTheNews initiative, a project by developer Auroch Digital that uses games to bring understanding to current events.

“Our aim is to use games as a format to bring news to a new audience and submission processes such as this do make it a lot harder for us. I get that Apple wants to make sure really offensive titles don’t pass into their store, but ours is far from that. In fact the response to the game has been broadly positive with much of the mainstream media picking up on the story. We’ll be making changes to the game and resubmitting it but it does mean we’ll have to strip some of the meaning and context from it to pass Apple’s submission process and that is not ideal.”

As games sit in the crossfire of a national debate on violence, it’s sad that a one has to cut out its meaning and context in order to gain access to a huge audience.

Endgame: Syria is HTML5, and anyone can play it on PC and even on iOS devices using a browser, if you’re interesting in seeing what Apple thinks shouldn’t be part of its ecosystem. You can find the game here.

]]>0Apple rejects game that explores the ongoing Syrian civil warGamesBeat weekly roundup: GLaDOS in Pacific Rim, more Black Ops II zombies, and Portal on a calculatorhttp://venturebeat.com/2012/12/14/gamesbeat-weekly-roundup-31/
http://venturebeat.com/2012/12/14/gamesbeat-weekly-roundup-31/#commentsFri, 14 Dec 2012 16:46:24 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=590313If you follow VentureBeat but don’t regularly check our GamesBeat site, here’s a list of the best video game stories we ran over the last seven days that you may have missed.
]]>Gaming execs:Join 180 select leaders from King, Glu, Rovio, Unity, Facebook, and more to plan your path to global domination in 2015. GamesBeat Summit is invite-only -- apply here. Ticket prices increase on March 6 Pacific!

If you follow VentureBeat but don’t regularly check our GamesBeat site, here’s a list of the best video game stories we ran over the last seven days that you may have missed.

This week, the voice of GLaDOS from the Portal series shows up in the trailer for the movie Pacific Rim, Disney buys South Korean game developer Studio Ex, and Call of Duty: Black Ops II gets more zombies, now on the Nuketown map.

You’ll also find reviews for Uncharted: Fight for Fortune and Guardians of Middle-Earth.

]]>0GamesBeat weekly roundup: GLaDOS in Pacific Rim, more Black Ops II zombies, and Portal on a calculatorEndgame: Syria — a game that explores the nation’s civil warhttp://venturebeat.com/2012/12/13/endgame-syria-explores-the-war-happening-in-that-country-right-now/
http://venturebeat.com/2012/12/13/endgame-syria-explores-the-war-happening-in-that-country-right-now/#commentsThu, 13 Dec 2012 22:41:21 +0000http://venturebeat.com/?p=589931The developer made the game in two weeks as part of the Game The News Project.
]]>Gaming execs:Join 180 select leaders from King, Glu, Rovio, Unity, Facebook, and more to plan your path to global domination in 2015. GamesBeat Summit is invite-only -- apply here. Ticket prices increase on March 6 Pacific!

Scud missiles and chemical warfare are a real threat that face the people of Syria as its government clashes with rebels who wish to oust the ruling party.

That’s not great subject material for a video games — or is it?

Endgame: Syria is a new game from developer Auroch Digital that explores the civil war. It’s a free game available online, on iOS, or on Android. It’s a simple game with lots of menus and text, and it explores the military and political nature of this conflict by showing how in-game actions effect both of those fronts.

It’s is part of the Game The News Project, which asks developers to explore topical subjects using games. In order to do this, the development time on Endgame: Syria was only two weeks.

“We wanted the events and actions in the game to mirror the real situation,” said Endgame: Syria designer Tomas Rawlings. “So while creating this experience, we were also continually looking at the news and adding or removing components to keep the content current.”

The simulation puts players in the role of leading the rebels against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Players must balance fighting the war with maintaining political support.

When designing Endgame: Syria, Rawlings researched the real war and discovered that several parties — many outside the country — stand to win or lose depending on how the sides choose to resolve the conflict.

That got him thinking about using the game as a way to map the different paths this war could take and how that would play out for the people of Syria, the United Nations, Iran, China, Russia, and others.

“As a game developer, I’m interested in this situation and the medium that’s natural for me to explore it in is games,” said Rawlings in a presentation about Endgame: Syria. “And ‘game’ is just the term for the medium. If it’s more comfortable [for you] you can call it a simulation, an exploration, an interactive guide — [you can use] any of those terms that you are more comfortable with.”

Each week, Old Spice’s advertising firm presents a folder of ideas and writing — often based on very current pop-culture references — to a development team led by Canabalt creator Adam Saltsman. They then spend a week turning those concepts into a game. It’s an amazing concept, but ultimately a silly one.

Game The News believes that the interactivity and malleability of games are an important way for people to learn about world events.

“We turned the war into an experience that people can follow along with and make decisions in,” said Rawlings. “And they have to understand the consequences of their decisions. And that’s really the key of how games are a good form to explore something.”